Review by luajaz for Death - Human (1991)

Listening through Death's discography, I finally come to an album that is very much regarded as one of the band's best but that I never gave too much attention. After many, many spins this has come to be my favorite Death album. The perfect point in the progression of their sound, the very transition between the brutality of Leprosy and the progressiveness of Sound, here everything is in perfect balance. Coupled with stunning musicianship, amazing compositions and a very solid production, Human takes Death far ahead of the competition with a record that shows how much art can really be in death metal. I feel like this is a specially somber album in the band's discography, with some of their most aggressive (Suicide Machine comes to mind) and sinister (Lack of Comprehension) songs, and also the first to go deep into philosophical and existential lyrical topics, something that would become a staple in Chuck's later work. Honestly, there is an argument to be made for every song here as a standout, because every single track has something interesting and new to offer. Every instrument is also played flawlessly. Here the band starts to use very creative and distinct drumming, with quick metallic cymbal grooves that would also become a trademark of the later Death sound, and also veers toward a more technical and out there string instrumentation, specially in bass fills and dare I say "jazzy" solos (like the second one on Flattening of Emotions).

Well, to summarize, this pretty much scores perfectly in every way and the only reason I don't give it all stars is that I reserve this rating for albums that really touch me in a different way. It can't get much better than Human.